U.S. gold futures fell back below $1,600 an ounce Tuesday, dropping 0.7 percent during trading to close at $1,594.80 an ounce. Spot gold also fell $12, closing at $1,592.96, CNBC reported.
The drop led noted economist and investor Dennis Gartman to question whether investing in the stock market would be a better move in the long run.
“I think one is going to do better by owning steel, owning copper, owning railroads, owning Apple, than one will do being long of the gold market,” Gartman said during an appearance on “Fast Money” Tuesday. “Up until August of last year, gold seriously outperformed equities.”
While other investors were rushing to funnel their money into precious metals and other stocks they saw as long lasting, Gartman made headlines by selling all of the gold in his personal account. He said he did not regret his decision.
“Gold has begun to seriously underperform equities, and I move, rather shockingly, to the point of being out of the gold market and long of equities against the euro, and it’s been a wonderful trade,” he said.
Gartman said “significant trading action” would be required to get gold and other precious metals back up to scratch to make them a worthwhile investment.
“We’ve seen reversals on charts before where you make a new low and then close higher on the day. We’re going to have to see that sort of price action rather than price itself, or rather than some event,” he told CNBC.
MarketWatch noted that gold’s drop came on a day with a general downward trend in markets, due largely in part to the aftermath of the holidays. Many markets were closed, and a thin trading volume was observed in general.
